Small Business Owner Believes Tax Breaks from the Obama Administration Would Help Most

Sara Gaum, CEO of VendorBar.com, has been in business since last May. She started the company while attending business school at Babson College and has been working on it full time since graduation.

I asked Sara how she felt the Obama administration was doing when it came to helping out small businesses, and Sara stated that while she likes some of the ideas in theory she’s unsure as to how they will help her grow her business.

While she believes a tax break for those interested in hiring employees is a good idea, she’s not sure it would actually work for her. “I would love to hire a computer programmer to be on my “staff”. Unfortunately, I don’t have $50K lying around and a tax break isn’t enough incentive for me to take the risk of trying to find the money.”

In addition, Sara feels the stimulus package will have little, if any, affect on her company. “First off, I had already used personal savings to finance my start-up. While I may need a loan in the next 6 months, I am skeptical whether the stimulus money promised to banks will actually get to an entrepreneur like myself.”

Sara also questions whether banks will actually begin lending at a higher rate since she has found they lend much more cautiously in today’s business climate. “I do not think that my company is the riskiest venture for a bank to lend to (I worked as an event planner prior to business school. I have a business plan and financial information for the past year.), but I wonder if they would want to lend to a first time entrepreneur rather than finance a second store or project for an established entrepreneur.”

What does Sara think would help her small business grow? Tax breaks for starting a new small business. “Many of the initiatives that he is attempting to enact are in the hands of others (banks, incubators, etc.) and may result in my company being excluded from partaking in the benefits of the program. On the other hand, I have to file taxes every year and deal with the government directly. Why not just “reward” me with a tax break?”

VendorBar specializes in matching individuals with professionals involved in the event planning business. We will continue to check in with Sara to see how her business fares for the upcoming year.